Do Not Go To Egypt

42 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,

2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)

3 That the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.

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Jeremiah agrees

4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.

They affirm they will obey , no matter WHAT the answer

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.

6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.

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YHVH Answers, telling them to submit to Babylonian king and he will protect them, but if they go to Egypt, they will be punished and killed. He points out that they did not mean it when they said they would obey

10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.

11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God,

14 Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:

15 And now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;

16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.

18 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

19 The Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

20 For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.

21 And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.

22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

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So, not hearing what they wanted to hear, they accuse Jeremiah of lying to them, to destroy them

43 2 Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:

3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.

Now there is a group rebellion and they disobey, they go to Egypt anyhow

4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to dwell in the land of Judah.

5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

6 Even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.

7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.

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So YHVH tells them they are going to Babylon anyhow. YHVH will send Babylon’s king to come get those that were spared death

10 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.

11 And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.

12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.

13 He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.

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The above passage also relates WHY they were forbidden to enter Egypt:

Pagan images, false gods

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This idolatry was the reason Jerusalem had been invaded to begin with:

44 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,

3 Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.

7 Therefore now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;

8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.

11 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.

12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:

14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.

15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.

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So the foolish people claimed idolatry was good for them, had benefits, and to stop idolatry would be to stop the blessings:

16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.

17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

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Jeremiah again explains the consequences of idolatry

25 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.

26 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth.

27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.

28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or their’s.

29 And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

30 Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

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Queen of heaven ,Semiramus or Isis

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Points here to be made

The people wanted God to confirm what they wanted to do; they were not really interested in what God wanted.

They wanted to continue in idolatry, in a land that permits it. They did not want to face the consequences of their sin in Babylon.

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God knows our hearts. Do not ask him for what you want. Ask Him for what He wants for you.

If God gives you what seems like a disagreeable command, obey Him. He knows the end from the beginning.

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Open rebellion against God will bring destruction, or more severe consequences than the ones you are trying to avoid.

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Idolatry is a deception. It never benefits anyone in the long run. The Israelites thought they did better when presenting offerings to the “queen of heaven.”

The enemy was able to give them the illusion of prosperity to bring them under bondage, and separate them from communion with YHVH.

But this cut them off from YHVH God’s everlasting prosperity, which is much greater, and without bondage.

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Do not anger YHVH God by playing games with Him. Do NOT ask for information as to His will if you do NOT want his answer. This will compound your punishment.

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Because Jeremiah submitted to YHVH God, he was given comfort in Babylon, while the rebellious suffered.

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Never ask YHVH God to bless what He has already cursed, or to curse what he has blessed.

Never ask Him to change his mind about sin, and permit it, just because you want to do it.

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Submit to YHVH God, and reject the devil and all his evil, and it will go well with you.

If you do the opposite, then you will surely pay for your sin, and live and die in bondage.

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There is an Egypt for all of us.

It is a place of sin and idolatry and flesh.

It is opposite of the kingdom of God, and enmity with it.

You cannot have both.

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How many of us want YHVH God to bless our selfish desires?

Think about it.

You cannot have it both ways.

You cannot have both sin and the presence of God in your life.

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You have to make a choice, and accept the consequences of your choice.

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13 Responses to “Do Not Go To Egypt”

What some of us do when we feel God has not heard us, let alone “answered” our prayer, is that we stop praying. I am guilty of this.

God may answer with silence, which, in effect, is not necessarily a “yes.” It may be a “no” or it might be “wait,” but I must not stop praying. I must continue to pray for His will to be done, not mine, and in God’s time, not mine.

I must continue in prayer, and remain obedient to Him while looking at my own life – if there is something in my life that I must change, All the while keeping an open ear and an open heart.

Actually, I’m going through something of the opposite to this right now. I’m trying to find God and the place I’m growing in Him and sinning less. But I’ve been homeless for years, which He told me isn’t His will, and it’s definitely kept me from growing and allows sin to be often the first option just to cope. So, I’m not wanting the flesh or Egypt but sure am stuck there right now while the people with better means to follow God aren’t doing it. What do you say about that?

Furthermore, the Lord is again showing me the strangle hold that the Ahab spirit has over American men, a demonic assignment that affects American christian men and makes them more passive and more willing to remain in sin than to fight or strive to live the way God has chosen. The more excuses I hear from christian men who have the Ahab spirit, and they’ll use the Bible to justify staying in Egypt, the more God brings me back to what the Bible actually says about passivity vs. godly activity so that I don’t think that the many who neglect godly responsibility are in the right but that what the Bible says on the matter is right. I’m actually striving to live for God but am surrounded by Ahab men who are striving to live for their wives and other women in their lives and using the Bible to justify what they’re doing. But when they stand before God and He asks them why they didn’t obey Him, they’ll begin and close their defense with, “The woman You gave me.”

I am glad you checked in. I want to assure you that I mention you by name in my prayers each night, and pray that your situation improves.

the “woman you gave me” excuse goes back to adam, when he had to explain to God why he disobeyed. it also got him kicked out of eden, so the excuse did not work then either.

you are living with “egyptians” when you are around ahabs. these men pass the responsibility onto women for their lives, and therefore stay in the bondage they created for themselves.

I agree that this is not God’s ultimate goal for you, but there must be a reason God allows this season in your life. In the same way, the bible says God heals his people, yet he allows me to remain disabled.

his ways are too high for us, and we strive to understand something only he knows. so we submit and try to learn what he wants us to learn. and they will be lessons that are only available through life experience, and not learned from books or sermons.

experiences BURN lessons into our souls, we become repelled by sins that hurt us. sins that we might otherwise commit, thinking they are not that bad.

I pray this journey produces fruit in your life, and comes to an end at some point, where you are more comfortable. it may be the lessons you are learning first hand will be used by God to have you witness to others.

Two of several very important lessons I’ve been learning through all this have been God’s opinion on 1.) taking responsibility and 2.) correct priorities. Males are first in line to observe both of these things, and they rarely ever do nor rarely does anyone else. When the flat earth people try to draw me into useless debate on facebook about the shape of the planet, I use this hashtag often: #PrioritizeOrDIE. Then I block them.

I’m also learning that some things that many christians see simply as “sins” (or see as not even sinful) God actually sees as “abominations” which means that God hates these types of sins with a special and ‘set-apart hatred’. Ahab men who refuse to take responsibility, and Ahab-Jezebel relationships, God sees as abominable and abominations. He is very angry about these things. Ahab men pass the buck to women and complain about women, somehow thinking that God will excuse them because they hid so we’ll. They refuse to take responsibility; the christian ones’ hearts were never reformed no matter how many good deeds and how much successful ministry they’ve had. They were never and are not saved.

Because I’ve seen the abominations in the churches and the world– the needless suffering of so many people and so many lost and unsaved souls because “girls just wanna have fun” and men far more so– based mainly on men’s refusal to take responsibility and form correct priorities, I believe I’ve been forever set free of the charms of any Jezebel and the compromise that calls from the Ahab spirit. If not for God’s sake, then for other people’s sake I can’t make any kind of alliance, treaty, or compromise with the passivity that comes from the desire to live in the world– in Egypt, to satisfy ones personal needs alone and forsake the needs and desires of others– a desire that’s so well expressed in both Jezebel and Ahab. I don’t know how angry God is about just the aspect of forsaking others to live in the world, unfaithfulness to one’s brother or neighbor (not as it regards faithfulness to God which is another issue), but I’m learning a great deal in this about “the severity of God”. And He isn’t happy at all… which is a very polite way to buffer the way He’s feeling about that aspect of things. I’m learning to love others because I see the needless suffering, loss, lack, bondage, and death that spread unopposed when christians say, “We won’t do it God’s way. We don’t want God. We’ll do it our way. We will not have this Man Jesus rule over us.” That’s going to turn out extremely well for those christians, and I do like to consider both the kindness AND the severity of God.

if I may add an aspect of the Lord’s heart on this it would be for us to remember that we are spirit beings.. meaning the Holy Spirit entered into our spirit-man.. this is where communion lies.

Our soul (mind, will, emotions) is the gatekeeper where we either accept the truths of His kingdom or reject them. (2 cor 10:5)

This is what leads us to rebel. We chose to not walk in the Mind of Christ that now abides in our spirit-man.

We are delivered from spiritual Egypt. The more we embrace His word and apply it to our walk, identity and beliefs, the more our spiritual reality will be reflected in our daily walk, and where we ultimately find relief from the physical things that press hard against us.